THE Tenant Farmers' Association has emphasised the importance for tenants to plan ahead for the new single farm payment and to keep hold of the entitlement to it.

The TFA has become increasingly concerned at reports that some landlords are taking the opportunity, where available, to bring existing farm tenancies to an end as a lever to extract concessions from tenants on any SFP entitlement which might be established.

George Dunn, TFA chief executive, said he was very aware that some landlords were taking unreasonable steps to try to gain the entitlement.

"Once the landlord has taken steps to end the existing agreement, land is being offered back to the tenant only if he agrees to sign up to onerous clauses which require the entitlement to be given to the landlord or passed to the landlord with little or no compensation at the end of the tenancy," he said.

"While this is not illegal it is, as far as the TFA is concerned, sharp practice."

The TFA is now putting pressure on the Government to introduce a statutory code for the tenant to be able to enforce a valuation of the entitlement at the end of the tenancy, if he does not want to take it away with him.

This would then be passed to the landlord for allocation to an incoming tenant in return for the compensation settled.

This method would be similar to the legistlative provisions providing compensation to tenants for milk quota or other end of tenancy claims on improvements.

"To ensure the benefits of the SFP go to their intended beneficiaries, there is a desperate need for legislation for statutory end of tenancy compensation codes under both the 1986 Agricultural Holdings Act and 1995 Agricultural Tenancies Act," said Mr Dunn.

"We must ensure that measures are put in place to protect the individuals for whom the entitlements were intended, and to stop entitlement being wrested away by tactics which can only be described as theft and bullying."